On Mauala Azhar, India needs to be realistic: Access to the JeM will not be granted

New Delhi, March 31: India has sought from Pakistan the voice samples of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar. The NIA also wants to visit Bhawalpur in Pakistan where the Jaish chief is housed. However, on these two fronts there will be no reciprocity on the part of the Pakistan.

Pakistan will listen to the demand by India seeking access to Azhar, but would eventually deny the same in a polite manner. Many in the Indian establishment too are aware that this demand to question the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and his brother Asghar Rauf will be denied by Pakistan.

Why Pakistan will not give access to Azhar?

No matter what the bonhomie is between India and Pakistan there are some in that country who will always remain off limits. The names that come immediately to mind are Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Azhar. You could call them proxies of the state or assets of the ISI.

Pakistan will find a lot of ways to deny India access to Azhar and his brother Asghar who is the mastermind of the attack.

Sources tell OneIndia that they are not at all hopeful of getting access. Granting access to Azhar would shake the balance in Pakistan. Moreover, if an Indian investigator speaks with Azhar there is always the danger of him seeking revenge against his own country and spilling the beans on who remote controls him (read ISI).

Instead what Pakistan may do is gather the evidence, club it with the one given by India and investigate the matter on its own. If it is serious, it would bring Azhar and his brother to trial. India does not even expect that Pakistan would give it the voice samples of Azhar as has been demanded.

After the Pathankot attack, India had complained to Pakistan about the role of the brothers. While Pakistan claimed that it had acted, the fact of the matter is that both have not been detained. Yes, Pakistan did use a terminology called Protective Detention. However in criminal jurisprudence that makes no sense at all.

OneIndia News